Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
I've enjoyed this topic. Thanks, all.
  

    
Yes - and it would be terrific if you (Emily) could post your
thoughts about the state of journalism as we stumble into 2023...?
  

    
Bruce posted his over and out yesterday, and this is my final post.

Thanks to our guests, Sandy Stone and Emily Gertz. And we're sorry
that Toomas Ilves couldn't make it.

Thanks also to members of the WELL and readers off-WELL who
contributed posts. This year's model of SOTW was rich, and will bear
re-reading and re-thinking.

Don't focus so much on the terrible that you miss the wonder-full.
Invoking Dickens, it is the best of times and it is the worst of
times. There's no utopia and there's no dystopia, there's always a
struggle between our finest and our worst inclinations. 

Take some time to scan Maria Popova's "The Marginalian":
<https://www.themarginalian.org/>

"Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the
imperfection is perfect reality." ~ Shunryu Suzuki
  

    
We do live in the age of Miracle and Wonder, but unless by "the best
of times" you mean advanced technology, I can't see it. Neither is
this the worst of times compared to some of what came before, and a
lot of what seems increasingly inevitable. If we don't get seriously
wholistic in the very near future, it looks from here/now like we
are headed for hell in a bucket. 

We have soiled our own nest, and continue to add to the pile of
excretion at an increasing rate. When will we ever learn?
  

    
By any measure of wellbeing you choose to normalize and stack rank,
these are the very best of times, by several lengths and gaining.

If you can't find serenity in the midst of chaos, you'll have less
serenity but the same amount of chaos. I'm told it's pronounced
"cows".
  

    
The best of times for some humans maybe. For the rest of nature -
not so much. There are also plenty of humans who are experiencing
dramatic deterioration of their circumstances. Ukrainians, Haitians,
Yemenis, Uighurs, Afghans, poor US residents, and anyone living in a
low lying coastal area. 

We are in the midst of the greatest mass extinction event in
millions of years. Certainly the greatest while H. Sapiens has been
around. If we don’t stop despoiling the planet, the worst of times
will be upon us in short order. I share Greta’s view.

<https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=laeGR6j9u6c>
  

    
Thank you to all the thinkers here for all the thoughts - and the
education and inspiration and incitement they provoked. 

There's something deeply comforting and enlightening about having
one's pessimism reinforced and almost filigreed at the same time one
sees new information and insight grinding down its nastiest sharp
edges. 

We are empowered to think and act with more clarity, even as it
becomes clearer how completely f*cked it seems we all are. 
  

    
>for some humans maybe

Twas ever thus. Notwithstanding, and taking the long view of
history, wellbeing is more broadly enjoyed today than ever before.
This is why fascism menaces so urgently; the maladaptive are running
out of grievances to exploit. History will record this convulsion as
an extinction burst.

As for the climate, it portends great disequilibrium going forward,
and its dynamics are ominous today. But the current overall status
of the species remains an apex of progress. Less war, less violence,
less poverty, less hunger, less autocracy, less injustice; more
food, more prosperity, more education, more liberty. That's where
we're at today.

We may well be headed for perdition in an easter basket, but the
current status is nevertheless encouraging. Whether we'll summon the
will to address the climate challenge depends to a large degree on
whether we'll stop exploiting, enslaving and killing each other over
resources. On a global scale, that trend is encouraging. Whether
it's in time is another conjecture.

One may entertain concerns about the future of the environment and
still acknowledge that in many ways, sapiens is adapting a more
congenial brainstem. One fervently hopes that adaptation to address
environmental conditions will follow with dispatch. But hope is just
fear in a party dress.
  

    
Something that passes for good news these days?

Ukraine credits local beavers for unwittingly bolstering its
defenses — their dams make the ground marshy and impassable
<https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-says-defenses-stronger-thanks-beavers-
dams-2023-1>

> Ukrainian officials had warned that Russia may wage an offensive
through its ally Belarus into a region of Ukraine called Volyn. 

> Defense forces there, however, have been reassured by conditions
on the ground, left impassable by miles of burst river banks, thick
mud, and waterlogged fields.

> The swampy conditions have given Ukrainians an advantage, and time
to prepare: a local military unit called the Volyn territorial
defense has been conducting daily training exercises in the area,
according to Reuters.

> Its spokesman, Serhiy Khominskyi, praised the beavers, which he
told Reuters were more working unimpeded, unlike in other years.
  

    
>>>the current overall status
of the species remains an apex of progress.

If you call pollution and general environmental degradation
progress. If you call a world where humans and their chattels are
squeezing out everything else progress. 

<https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/land_mammals.png>

I don’t see humans slowing down their creation of toxic waste or
pollution of rivers and oceans anytime soon. I had hoped that the
quieting of human activity(and the attendant effects) at the
beginning of the pandemic shutdown might give first world people
pause, and help move the needle away from consumerism. It hasn’t.
There are only more seeking those first world “wonders” than ever
before. The market for more electronic gadgets and crappy plastic
goods is still growing, and anything like the current levels of
production is well beyond what the planet can sustain.

We really do have to stop measuring the health of the whole by how
humans are doing. Imagine a patient in a hospital who is dying of
metastatic cancer, and is also suffering from a broken leg. The bone
surgeon looks at an X-ray and says “Excellent progress, you’ll be
back on the tennis court in no time.”

Like that. We’re killing the natural world. I can’t bring myself to
call that progress.
  

    
I think entirely dismissing all benefits to humans is going a bit
far in the other direction, though? And I'll point out that there
some pretty significant natural sources of pollution, disaster,
disease, and other suffering.
  

    
I consider a new Bruce Sterling story to read to be a bit of good
news. I reposted the link in a couple places. Perhaps a few more
people will see it.
  

    
>I can’t bring myself to call that progress.

If you ignore all the actual progress, then those adverse conditions
could look pretty demoralizing. But overall, on balance and on a
global scale, I see humanity evolving in promising dimensions. I
guess it just depends on your data set, innit?

I also see zero benefit in entertaining inevitable doom narratives.
Cui bono? As I see it, we're not going to solve the practical
logistical challenges of living nondestructively on the planet until
we, as a species, move beyond reflexive tribal hostilities, and
there's still rather a lot of runway to cover on that account. It's
abundantly clear we're not going solve this to save ourselves. 

But we might do it to save everyone else.
  

    
i'm with <yesway>. no surprise, i guess.
  

    
Pray do tell what data you’ve seen re: the actual progress towards a
healthier environment for other species. What data have you seen
that points towards a slowing of human degradation of the
environment. 

>> I'll point out that there some pretty significant natural sources
of pollution, disaster, disease, and other suffering.

Can’t think of what natural phenomenon I’d characterize as
pollution. At least not one that isn’t triggered by human activity.
There’s no “waste” in nature. Certainly there are natural disasters
that effect humans, but there’s no natural equivalent to burning
fossil fuels, open pit mining, toxic agricultural runoff, systematic
deforestation, or fracking. I literally don’t know what you mean.
  

    
There is nothing, absolutely nothing, as important as climate
collapse. The other issues mentioned - political divisions and
reliance on tech - are important because they indicate there will
never be large scale action on the issue because everyone is either
busy blaming someone else or hoping someone else will magically fix
things. We are fools, whistling as we walk past the graveyard while
we brag that we've discovered penicillin.
  

    


we are funny, silly little creatures. 
  

    
On a human timescale, volcanic eruptions are a natural source of
pollution [1]. Also forest fires. (Some are caused by people, but
they’ve been happening long before we got here.)

At geological timescales, there are also things like ice ages,
asteroid hits and supernovas. Geological and biological changes have
caused worse extinctions than anything we’ve come up with yet.

Waste is a matter of perspective. Even the oxygen we breathe was a
waste byproduct until life evolved that makes use of it. There will
probably be lifeforms that evolve to make use of our byproducts,
eventually. Sort of like we do with coal and oil.

Eventually is a long time, though. This shouldn’t be considered an
excuse for making things worse for ourselves on the timescales we
care about.

[1]
<https://www.usgs.gov/programs/VHP/volcanic-gases-can-be-harmful-health-vegetat
ion-and-infrastructure>
  

    <scribbled by yesway Sun 15 Jan 23 21:17>
  

    
The current mass extinction is the only one to take place since the
emergence of Homo sapiens. Waste is a human concept. It implies the
existence of a byproduct that isn't useful to any part of nature.
There is no natural equivalent of the toxic soup engendered by
modern manufacturing, mining, and industrial agriculture. No other
species ever engaged in activities that despoiled entire
environments
thousands of miles away. 

Yes there are volcanos, tsunamis, and lightning started forest
fires. Those aren't caused by a species, and they kind of hurt
everyone equally. Human caused damage is qualitatively different,
especially because we know we're doing damage, but we keep doing it
because money. We have met the enemy and it is(indeed) us.
  

    
I am also with yesway on this perspective.
  

    
Renshin, thanks for the kind inquiry. The emergency is resolved in a
certain sense. My 97-year-old father is going to die soon,
comfortable and well-cared for in a pleasant residence tended by
people who like and love him, instead of in the ER or hospital room
where he spent the first seven or eight days of the year.

My thoughts on the uses and condition of journalism as we come into
2023 are scattered, under the circumstances. I did note Bruce's
comment and link to some big thoughts from big news minds, worrying
that people are so tired of negative news that it may mean a
significant downturn in news revenues this year.

"Could this be the year when publishers rethink their offer to
address the twin challenges of news avoidance and disconnection – to
offer more hope, inspiration, and utility?"

I have a fundamental beef with this question, or more precisely that
the Reuters Institute is presenting it like new one. Because there
are scores of news entities - outlets, organizations, journalism
faculty and students and more - who have been doing this
relentlessly for years and years now.  

If the Reuters Institute wanted to take a dose of its own medicine,
it could have instead explored into HOW people have been
transforming news coverage and delivery to offer more hope,
inspiration, utility, WHAT the status of some of those efforts are
and WHERE they are or may be going in the coming year.
  

    
The Reuters Inst. piece also natters on at length about Twitter.
While many, many journalists are unhappy with the possible collapse
of Twitter as a useful watering hole - slash - reporting tool, I'm
skeptical this is a foundational concern for the news industry. 

The article also highlights "format innovation: the shift to audio
and video continues"... give me a fucking break. Is this a new
version of the "pivot to video" or "podcast revolution" hype? It
reminds me of past panics in which radio and then television were
going destroy journalism.

Imagine some nabob complaining in the late 1400s that Gutenberg's
infernal printing press was wiping out the town crier sector, which
was obviously the only good way to report the news.
  

    
Ok, now I need to check out of this hotel and go visit with my
father for a while. So: to be continued.

Also: The mattar paneer came out pretty good. I think my cumin seeds
went stale, though, so it could have been more flavorful. Also, gave
up on sauteeing in the Instant Pot, which wasn't getting hot enough,
and cooked in a pot on the stove instead. The Instant Pot did a
pretty good rush cooking job on some pear-mango-ginger chutney,
though.
  

    
>current mass extinction

Interesting way to describe overpopulation.